Rumor Has It
by silverdoe394
Summary: Rumors and gossip always follow celebrities, and supervillains are no exception to this. So when a rumor concerning the relationship between Megamind and Roxanne Ritchi comes to life they must deal with public opinion, navigate their feelings for one another, and learn where their relationship stands.
1. The Mind Reader

Since Megamind is the city's number one supervillain, rumors about him broke out now and again, circulated, and then died until the next rumor came up again. Very rarely, some of these rumors had truths in them because they had been started by a civilian who had seen Megamind in the middle of one of his schemes. For the most part, however, the rumors were false and started by people with nothing better to do.

When Megamind first declared himself the supervillain of Metro City, he paid attention to these rumors all the time, wanting to know what the general population thought about him. Along with his own, he paid attention to Metro Man's as well. Since he was Metro Man's arch-nemesis, Megamind needed to know what people thought about him too. Eventually, with the help of Minion's advice, he realized that these rumors had become too big of an influence in his life. He was younger then and he tried too much to live up to the rumors he liked, and did everything he could to quash the ones he didn't. So Megamind stopped listening to these rumors and shifted his focus entirely back to his evil deeds.

Well, all of them except for the rumors about Metro Man concerning his relationship with one Roxanne Ritchi… but that was something Minion didn't need to know.

Now if Megamind didn't know what his rumors were, he didn't care. And if he did happen to catch wind of the new rumors, he disregarded them or got a good laugh out of them. One winter a few years ago, there was a rumor spreading that Megamind was going to reenact How the Grinch Stole Christmas and steal everybody's Christmas presents. It was physically impossible for him to sneak into everybody's homes and steal their presents all in one night; and even if he could, he didn't see any point in it. What would he even do with all that stuff? And yet, there were people on TV recommending all sorts of crazy methods for people to implement in their homes to ensure Megamind couldn't steal their children's expensive new toys. He expected people to be generally smarter than that, but Megamind learned something new that holiday season. That particular rumor gave Minion and him about a month's worth of entertainment and by far it was their favorite one.

His current evil plan involved kidnapping Roxanne Ritchi again in order to draw in and capture Metro Man. With this plan, he was going to have the Brain Bots do most of the dirty work. He had changed their design and entered a new algorithm into their system so they could move together with more efficiently. This was necessary in order for the plan to work. He had tested it over and over again with little to no problems; Megamind just hoped it would actually work. Metro Man would definitely put up more of a fight than a few captured civilians…

The theme of kidnapping Roxanne – and people in general - was a relatively new one. He had started kidnapping for about six months now, but when he realized he could use Roxanne to get to Metro Man, she had become his primary focus. This was the fifth time he'd ever done it and he was still getting the whole thing down.

"Sir?" Minion asked. Roxanne was slung over his shoulder, passed out and with a bag placed over her head.

"Yes, Minion?" Megamind said. "What is it?"

They had just arrived at an old warehouse where they would be capturing Metro Man. Minion delicately lifted Roxanne from his shoulder and settled her into a chair, where he began tying her to it. He tugged the bag off her head and tossed it aside.

"I've noticed we've kidnapped Miss Ritchi several times over the past few months to get to Metro Man, but…"

"But what, Minion?" Megamind said, not looking up from a blueprint he was reading.

Minion fumbled with the rope a little. "Why do we only ever kidnap her? We know the identities of some of Metro Man's friends, and we know he is the son of the Scott family, so…"

"So what, Minion?" Megamind asked, irritated that Minion made him put the paper down for this silly conversation.

Minion stiffened. "So… Wouldn't it be more effective to kidnap one of his parents? He has known them all his life. And if we don't start mixing things up, Roxanne might get protection for herself so we won't be able to take her as easily as before."

"Psssh, Minion." Megamind waved his hand dismissively. "Roxanne is all we need."

"But, sir,"

" _What_ , Minion?"

Minion huffed. "I really think you should consider it."

"I don't need to consider it. Roxanne is all we need," he repeated.

"Why?"

"Because – because Metro Man is dating Roxanne! Since they are dating, that means Metro Man will do anything to get back – " Megamind paused for a moment. His voice lost some of its gusto. "…Get back the woman he loves."

"But – "

"But, but, but," Megamind mocked his companion. "I'm tired of this conversation Minion, just finish tying her up. I'm overlooking some schematics for the Brain Bots here." Megamind turned around and went back to reading.

"He's not even dating Roxanne Ritchi," Minion mumbled.

"What was that?" Megamind asked.

"Nothing, nothing. There, I'm done tying her up." Minion stood up from kneeling next to the chair and walked over to Megamind. "She should be waking up any moment now."

"Good, then she'll be waking up around the time I finish looking over this. Perfect."

Megamind called a Brain Bot over and compared it to the diagram in his hand, making changes on the page here and there, sometimes sending that Brain Bot away and calling over a new one for further analysis.

Just like Minion said, Roxanne woke up minutes later. Blinking her eyes, she slowly began gathering awareness of her surroundings. Her vision cleared up and her eyes finally settled on Megamind and Minion. She groaned.

"This _again_?" she asked. "Can't you guys kidnap some other person?"

"That's what I've been saying – "

"Shush, Minion!" Megamind interrupted, shooting a glare at the fish. He turned his attention back to the woman attached to the chair and crossed the room, stopping just a few feet in front of her. "Oh, Miss Roxanne Ritchi. You have no idea what we have in store for Metro Man today."

"Oh, I think I do."

Megamind's haughty smile disappeared almost instantly. "Wh – what?"

"Go ahead, do it." Roxanne said.

"Do… what?" he looked back at Minion, giving him a confused glance. Minion made a face in reply. He was just as confused as Megamind was.

"I have nothing to hide. Just do it." She leaned back in her chair and looked at him like she expected him to start juggling for her.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

Roxanne looked annoyed and confused, stammering: "You… the… the mind reading thing!"

"What?" Minion and he said in unison.

"You can read minds! Don't pretend that you can't. You're going to read my mind and try to get any secrets about Metro Man that you can from me." She saw that her words were making no more sense to the two villains, who were giving her vacant stares. "…Right?"

"Miss Ritchi, I…" Megamind stopped his thought, and suddenly he began giggling. _Giggling_. It wasn't even an evil chuckle, it was a genuine laugh. And he couldn't seem to stop.

Roxanne confusedly shifted her gaze from the evil mastermind overcome by fits of laughter to Minion, who was also having a good laugh. Their laughing went on for another minute or so before she began to get annoyed by it.

"Hey!" The laughter didn't falter. " _Hey_!"

"Ohhh," Megamind wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, Miss Ritchi. That is, without a doubt, the funniest thing I've heard all week." He expected to see a smile on her face because her joke worked out so well, but her expression was completely serious, and a little annoyed.

"You – you're serious?" Megamind still had a smile on his face. "You think I can read minds!"

He and Minion exchanged glances again. Minion was still letting out small bursts of laughter as he tried to recover.

"She thinks I can _read minds_ , Minion!"

"That is definitely one of the better stories I've heard," Minion said, amused.

Megamind put his hand to his chest in mock surprise. "Roxanne Ritchi, I am shocked to hear that a reporter such as yourself would believe _rumors_ instead of concrete facts about someone."

"I feel so stupid right now…" Roxanne said quietly, shaking her head.

"Who told you this? I'm genuinely curious."

"Um, well… Metro Man did."

" _Metro Man_?" Megamind and Minion asked in unison again.

"Yes, well… Someone said that you threatened them with your mind reading powers. I guess Metro Man believed it because he got that information from his parents, and his father is a close friend of that individual," Roxanne shook her head again. "I should never have believed it, but since Metro Man told me, I thought it was true."

"Now _that_ is priceless," Minion said.

Megamind nodded at Minion's remark. "I'm almost hurt that Metro Man believed such a thing. I mean, we went to shool together and we've fought so many battles, and in all that time I've never read anybody's mind. Wouldn't you think I'd be using this power for _ages_ now, if I had it?"

"Okay, Megamind, I get it. So what was your evil plan for today, then?" Roxanne asked.

"Oh," Megamind said nonchalantly. "I was just going to have the Brain Bots capture Metro Man and keep him in a dungeon I built specially for him until I found a way to destroy him."

Unimpressed, Roxanne replied: "Uh-huh."

Megamind narrowed his eyes. "What was that supposed to mean?"

"The 'uh-huh'?" Roxanne said.

"Yes, the 'uh-huh'! You don't think my plan will work!"

"Going by your track record when it comes to going against Metro Man, I would say no. I don't think so." Roxanne craned her neck to look over Megamind's shoulder and beyond Minion. "Also the fact that Metro Man just found the location of this warehouse you took me to and he's punching through your Brain Bots like they're nothing."

Megamind's eyes almost bulged out of his sockets. He and Minion whirled around and sure enough, Metro Man was flying around the entrance to the warehouse, creating a graveyard of destroyed, sparking Brain Bots underneath him. He was outnumbered a hundred to one, yet the poor robots made the minutest impact on the white-clad superhero. Some clung onto his back or ankles in an attempt to overpower him, but he easily ripped them off his person and crushed them in his fists. The only reason he hadn't already gotten to beating Megamind was because there were so many of the things holding him back.

"There goes that plan," Megamind said to himself, watching helplessly as his Brain Bots were torn to pieces. He didn't even care that Metro Man was destroying so many of his creation, he had a machine programmed that could easily crank out as many Brain Bots as he liked, so that wasn't a problem. It was the fact that it was so _easy_ for Metro Man to fend off the Brain Bots. His plan had been crushed into dust.

"Um, sir, Plan B?" Minion said. Megamind continued watching the scene before him, clearly not paying attention to Minion at all.

" _Sir_ ," Minion repeated with more urgency.

Megamind gave Minion a weak smile. "Yes, Plan B, about that…"

Minion's eyes went half-lidded. "There was no Plan B, was there?" he said flatly.

Megamind made a nod of his head at Minion as confirmation. Minion sighed.

"Man," Roxanne piped up. "Now I wish the mind reading thing was real. It'd be less pathetic than this."

Neither of the two said anything, they had gone back to watching the battle that was almost over. Only about a half dozen Brain Bots remained, and they were quickly falling to the floor upon contact with the superhero's fists. Metro Man was the clear victor today, no doubt about that.

"If you guys are going back to jail can you at least untie me? I'm getting rope burn over here." Roxanne said.

"Yeah," the villains responded and kneeled down to undo her bonds.

Roxanne rubbed her wrists where the rope had been chafing against her skin. "Next time, Minion, lighten up on the knots."

Just as Roxanne had been freed, Metro Man fended off all of Megamind's Brain Bots and flew over to the other end of the warehouse where Megamind, Minion and Roxanne were gathered. His fists were clenched like he was prepared for another fight, but they unfolded and his expression softened when he saw Roxanne was no longer tied to the chair.

"You let her go?" Metro Man asked, his brow furrowed.

"Well, yes, of course. It was all part of my plan!" Megamind said with his chest puffed out.

"No it wasn't," Roxanne said. Megamind ignored her.

"And now, I'm going to read your mind and learn all of your weaknesses!" Megamind said, raising a finger to his temple.

Roxanne rolled her eyes. "He was going to surrender, Metro Man. He can't read minds."

Megamind shot a look at Roxanne. "Can't you just let me have this?"

"No," she said teasingly.

Metro Man shook his head. "Wait, wait, wait. Slow down. He can't read minds?"

Roxanne shook her head.

Metro Man touched his fingers to his forehead, sighing. "Alright, well, I feel like a complete idiot right now."

Roxanne crossed her arms. "That makes two of us."

"Are we still going to jail?" Megamind asked with a weak smile, hoping Metro Man would say no.

Metro Man quirked his eyebrow at the question. Everyone in the room could almost hear 'well, duh' the superhero was almost certainly thinking. "You sent your robots to attack me and you kidnapped Roxanne."

Megamind's smile faded. "Well, this was fun while it lasted."

Metro Man saw the rope lying on the floor that had been used to tie up Roxanne and grabbed it. Using his super speed, he tied up Megamind and Minion's hands behind their backs so they couldn't try anything while he was flying them back to the prison.

"Roxy, I can come back here and fly you home once I'm done dealing with these two," Metro Man said.

"No thanks, I'm good. I'll get a taxi." She looked over at the two villains. "Have fun in prison, Megamind. And when you break out again _please_ stop kidnapping me. I've got a job and a life too, you know."

"No promises," he said.

"…Right." It was pretty much the answer she expected, though it was worth a try.


	2. Disaster

It had been two months since the rumor about Megamind's ability to read minds got created and spread around Metro City. Just like any other rumor eventually does, it died down like all the other ones. Since then, Roxanne tried not to believe any rumors she heard until they were backed up by solid evidence. As a reporter, she knew she owed that to herself and to the people of Metro City.

Megamind and Minion had only been in prison for a few days before they broke out again, which was the amount of time it usually took them. Roxanne started to wonder if there was even a point in sending Megamind to prison if he always found a way back out. And since their last breakout, Megamind and Minion had gone and kidnapped Roxanne perhaps twenty times. They were becoming more frequent, and Roxanne never thought she would say it, but the kidnappings didn't scare her anymore. Maybe this was because besides getting rope burn around her wrists, no physical harm had ever been done to her. She also became less afraid because she discovered Megamind was a little too silly to be intimidating to her. He was a villain, but he wasn't cruel.

Right now, Roxanne was in the hands of the supervillain once again, and instead of thinking about calling for help or finding a way to escape, Roxanne made a mental note that she needed to buy laundry detergent and printer ink on the way home. She also would never have thought that being kidnapped by Megamind would give her so much time to think about work or life or herself. It would be much more pleasant without the rope, though.

The rope around her wrists and ankles were tied to a chair on top of a roof someplace while Megamind and Minion were testing out a large contraption. Whatever it was, the device stood at about eight feet tall. On top of the base a long cylinder resembled something like a tower fan, and what it could possibly be used for was lost on Roxanne.

It was the second time this week Megamind had kidnapped her and it was only Wednesday. At this rate, it would be a matter of time until it became an every day thing. 8 o'clock wake up, 8:30 eat breakfast, 10:00 get kidnapped by Megamind, and noon get rescued by Metro Man with time to make lunch. If a person could get paid per kidnapping, she might be tempted to quit her job as a reporter. Roxanne laughed to herself.

"And what is so funny about that, Miss Ritchi?" Megamind asked, turning his attention from this week's diabolical device to her.

"What?" she asked when she realized she was being spoken to. "Oh. I wasn't laughing at what you were saying. I was just thinking."

Megamind's eyes widened slightly. He was intrigued. "Thinking about what?"

Roxanne raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have evil scheming to be doing? Poor Minion's doing all the hard work by himself."

"Minion's fine." Megamind waved his hand dismissively. "Even villains need to take a break."

"But I thought evil never sleeps," she teased with a playful smirk on her face.

"Oh, Roxanne. You must know that's a myth. Unfortunately supervillains do need sleep."

Roxanne dropped her mouth open, feigning shock. "This changes everything I thought I knew about villains."

The corner of Megamind's lip curled up slightly. Roxanne's witty sense of humor never failed to amuse him. Sometimes he tried to hide the smiles to keep her believing that this was only just banter, and not the fact that he was clearly flirting with her; which apparently wasn't so clear since she hasn't picked up on any of it - to his relief. It was hard to hide the smiles the more time he spent with her, and increasingly harder to catch himself in the act of flirting. He didn't mean to do it, it just happened. And Megamind knew that if he didn't get a hold of himself, Roxanne would catch on. Then where would he be? There was no possibility that she'd be anything other than repulsed if she found out he had something of a crush on her. Okay, maybe it was more than a crush.

He was about to counter her sarcasm when Minion called him over.

"Alright, Minion!" Megamind called back to the fish and turned his back to Roxanne, returning to the device.

"Yeah, I'll just be waiting here. Tied up to this chair."

Standing next to Minion, Megamind asked: "What's the problem?"

"It just shut itself off and I can't get it to turn back on again. I think it burned out."

"That doesn't make any sense." Megamind said as he started to press buttons on the screen attached to the large device.

"If your machine doesn't work can I be off the hook for today?" Roxanne shouted from her end of the rooftop.

Megamind ignored her as he continued jamming buttons on the screen, confused and becoming frustrated at what was wrong with it. "Don't respond to that, Minion."

Minion didn't seem to hear, however, because he called back: "It's starting to look that way, Miss Ritchi!"

"Minion!"

Minion gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry, sir, but if the device doesn't want to work, then we might as well…"

"It'll work," he insisted. "Keep playing around with it. I'll go entertain our guest some more, she's starting to become rowdy."

"Back so soon?" Roxanne asked as Megamind approached her.

"Yes, well – "

"What is that thing supposed to do anyway?"

"It's a – " Megamind paused. It really was rather cruel to have her sitting here for almost an hour now. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to let her walk around for a bit. Her limbs were probably getting tired. "Here, I'll just show you."

"Are you untying me?" Roxanne wheeled her head around to see Megamind undoing the rope.

"Only because you keep complaining about it," he lied. "If you try anything funny, though, back to being tied up it is."

When the rope came off, Roxanne stood up and extended her arms to the sky. She stretched her back and sighed with relief to be able to get rid of the tension in her body. "That feels good."

As Megamind led her over to the contraption, she said: "You know, Megamind. I'm starting to think that you're getting soft on me."

"Excuse me?" he said. Knowing she was teasing him didn't help ease the slight panic that coursed through him from her statement. Maybe he should have kept her strapped to the chair.

She didn't say anything in response, thank God, so he started to explain what the device was to her.

"It's called a pressurized wave discharger. I'll broadcast your capture to Metro Man, and when Metro Man comes, it'll lock onto him. But he won't be able to get close; the discharger will keep him back with bursts of nearly invisible waves that can fire from any direction, and then I'll shoot him with my dehydration gun."

Metro Man was probably strong enough to not be too affected by this machine, but Roxanne didn't mention it. "So what exactly is the problem with it, then?"

Before Megamind could answer, Minion shouted. "Sir, I got it! It's powering up again."

Megamind looked at the screen which indicated they had gotten power back. A whirring noise came from within the base of it and gradually became louder until it stayed at a volume where everybody had to raise their voices a bit to hear one another.

"This thing seems dangerous!" Roxanne said to Megamind

"We have it totally under control, don't worry."

Just as Megamind said that, a loud bang came from within the machine. It shook and rattled a little too much for Roxanne's comfort. She took a step back.

The machine emitted a loud vibrating sound as it created a wave that collided with a street lamp. The wave was strong enough to tip the lamp in the direction it charged and the pole now sloped at an angle, no longer propped straight up in the sidewalk.

"I did not tell it to do that!" Minion said, and frantically typed in commands on the screen in front of him. Megamind and Minion started exchanging technical babble that Roxanne didn't understand. Decrease power to the something and balance that variable with the other one. She just hoped they could find a way to power it back off because a few more waves were sent out, and one hit Minion square in the chest. It seemed to be a less powerful wave because it knocked him off-balance, but he was able to catch himself before falling down. Roxanne realized he'd lucked out because there were stronger waves knocking objects off the roof and to the ground below, including the chair she was tied to just a moment ago.

Roxanne silently thanked Megamind for untying her, otherwise she would have become a pancake on the sidewalk. Then she realized if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't be on this rooftop with this crazy machine in the first place.

A piece of metal panel tore from the machine and shot out past Roxanne, missing her shoulder by mere feet. Out of instinct, Roxanne screamed. She hurried to the other side of the roof, getting as much distance between her and the machine as she could. There was no way in hell she was going to stay close enough to get sliced in two.

"Okay, I'm genuinely freaking out right now!" she called out.

Megamind shouted as loudly as he could over the machine's awful whirring and banging to Minion, who stood right next to him and could barely hear his voice. "I'm going to get Roxanne out of here!"

"You better do it fast, sir!"

Megamind made his way over to the woman who was shielding her face with her hands in the event any more pieces of metal came at her. One had narrowly missed Minion and others were shattering the windows of nearby buildings. She screamed again, jumping to the right when another hurtled toward her.

"Roxanne!" Megamind shouted, and he ran faster. He wasn't doing a great job at getting to her quickly, because a few of the waves had come at him, causing him to trip or lose balance along the way.

Another invisible wave was released from the machine and made contact with Roxanne. It was not strong enough to send her falling off the edge of the roof, but enough to lift her off the ground and throw her back several feet. As Roxanne fell, she closed her eyes and waited for the impact of hitting the rooftop hard. When it didn't come, she opened her eyes in confusion. Megamind had caught her just inches before she had hit the ground.

It was a split second decision on his part that wasn't really a decision. Megamind lunged at her without thinking, threw out his arms, and caught her. And now Roxanne's back was rested against his arm and his other hand had grabbed her waist. Their poses almost resembled that of a man dipping his partner in a dance – though less gracefully as dancers would. Megamind's breaths were shallower than normal because of his quick actions, and his legs wobbled a bit because of the awkward angle he bent over to catch Roxanne.

In the months Megamind and Roxanne knew each other, they had never touched. Well, they had, but it was always just a moment, like his fingers brushing against her wrists when tying her up, or untying her. Or once when he pointed out that she had some dirt on her face and she asked him to brush it off. Small things that people forgot about moments later - except him.

This was so much different. They were touching - for real. Megamind's thoughts became a fuzzy, jumbled mess.

Having never been this close to her before, Megamind could see light freckles on Roxanne's face that he didn't know were there. Roxanne also never realized how bright green Megamind's eyes were. They stared at each other in stunned silence until Megamind helped her back to her feet.

As Roxanne inspected herself to make sure no damage had been done to her, the whirring of the machine eased and eventually died off. No objects were blown off the roof or glass shattering. The chaos was over. The rooftop looked like a tornado blew in and jumbled everything up around it. Roxanne's hair was all over the place and Megamind's cape was twisted funny. Minion shouted something triumphant to Megamind and Roxanne, but they didn't hear it.

"Are you hurt?" Megamind asked.

Roxanne shook her head. "No, but I'm definitely a little traumatized," she said with a nervous laugh. "I'll be fine."

"I'm glad," Megamind said. His eyes widened at his words. He had slipped. "I mean – you should go home."

"Yeah, um, thanks," she stumbled out. Neither of them were entirely present in the conversation, both were piecing their thoughts together.

Megamind guided Roxanne to the door on the roof, passing Minion along the way, and down the stairs until they got to the ground level and outside the building.

"If you want to call a taxi, or have someone pick you up…" Megamind said awkwardly. He was used to being taken away by Metro Man by now, but it was just them.

She snorted. "I don't even know where I am."

"We're at the building complexes in Metrocity that never finished construction. The east end."

"Well, I would love to call a taxi. If I had a cell phone," she said, staring at Megamind, her arms crossed. She gave him a patient look.

"Oh," Megamind reached into his pocket and pulled out the cell phone that he confiscated when Minion knocked her unconscious before bringing her here. Roxanne took her phone back from the villain's blue palm and dialed a phone number. Roxanne assured Megamind that she was fine waiting alone and told him to go home before Metro Man came along. Just minutes after they fled, Metro Man and the police were all over the scene, asking Roxanne if she had witnessed the commotion concerned citizens were calling in about.

"It was Megamind, but he's long gone by now."

* * *

Roxanne thanked the friend who drove her back to her apartment and shut the passenger side door. During the drive home, her thoughts were focused on the events that transpired on the rooftop. Megamind didn't have to untie her, or come out of the building with her, and he sure as hell didn't have to catch her. The wave discharger only pushed her a few feet off the ground, at worst she would have gotten some nasty bruises. It was nothing she couldn't handle. He also said he was glad to hear she wasn't hurt.

None of it made sense, and it was driving her a bit nuts. She needed to distract herself, she thought, and turned on the TV when she got into her apartment.

The channel Roxanne had last left it on was currently airing the biggest celebrity gossip program in Metro City, a show called Metro Buzz. The show and its host made Roxanne want to roll her eyes. Her finger hovered over one of the numbers on the remote, about to change the channel when she heard her name spoken by the 'news' anchor onscreen.

"... and the story you've been waiting for all night. Is Roxanne Ritchi dating our city's very own supervillain, Megamind?"

Roxanne's jaw dropped. Video footage containing several instances in which Megamind kidnapped Roxanne flashed on screen. One scene would disappear after a few seconds and another would take its place. All of them featured Roxanne and Megamind in the same shots. Some were shots of Megamind doing his own thing, and others were taken mid-conversation between the two. This continued for about a minute, and then the face of the host returned to her television screen. The woman had blonde hair and an expression of snobbishness permanently plastered on her face.

"Just this year, Megamind has moved onto bigger and badder things; namely kidnapping civilians. But of these kidnappings, they have almost exclusively been Roxanne Ritchi, Metro City's biggest up-and-coming news reporter."

The woman on the screen smiled, as if she could see Roxanne's face through the TV and relished in her complete shock and stupefaction. She continued. "If Megamind is so evil, why hasn't Roxanne ever returned harmed or injured? Our info says that she has been abducted by him at least thirty-one times, and she hasn't filed a restraining order against him. We haven't seen even a single bodyguard! What kind of victim of kidnapping doesn't try to protect herself?"

The woman raised her eyebrow at the camera. "Unless this is all for show, and they are actually dating."

Roxanne swore at the TV, but of course that didn't stop the show host from presenting her awful monologue.

"In fact, here's a photo of her in Megamind's possession taken by an anonymous source just today, and she appears to be smiling at him. And another here… where Megamind has her in his arms."

Roxanne shut the TV off before any more words came out of the detestable woman's mouth and set the remote down on the coffee table with a loud clunk. That woman said nasty things about people, including herself, in the past; and it never bothered her before, but this…

Roxanne rested her elbows on her thighs and put her face into the palm of her hands, trying to make sense of what she had just seen and heard. She felt like she was just put on trial for a crime she didn't commit. Then her mind wandered over to the subject of work tomorrow. A few people at work would have seen this program; it had a fairly decent following. How many people in Metro City watched this show? And how many people gullible enough to believe it would tell their friends? She didn't know.

Roxanne spent the rest of the night regretting turning her TV on and wishing she had been out buying laundry detergent and printer ink instead.


	3. Bad to Worse

**A/N: This chapter focuses on Megs' POV and then switches to Roxanne and what she's doing.**

* * *

Back at the lair, Minion had been looking at the pressurized wave discharger for hours now, attempting to figure out what had gone wrong with it yesterday. Megamind and he had barely gotten it out in time before the cops and Metro Man showed up to arrest them. They had made several adjustments but none of them seemed to do much of anything. The machine also randomly turned itself on or off without warning.

As Minion was tinkering around with the device, Megamind had a hard time concentrating on his task. His thoughts kept going back to him saving Roxanne. He had held her in his arms. He had touched her, really touched her, for the first time. He was surprised that she didn't coil away from him, as other people had before when he touched them. He was certain she would, and she didn't. There was a bit of awkwardness, yes, but she didn't push him away, or scream, or slap him. Megamind couldn't help thinking if that meant something. Maybe not that she liked him, but perhaps she didn't dislike him either.

I'm just overthinking it, he thought to himself. But he probably wouldn't find out if he put Roxanne in danger like that again. Next time they might not be so lucky and somebody could get hurt.

Megamind broke out of his daydream when he heard Minion muttering a complaint about the device.

"It's pointless, Minion," Megamind called. "We've spent hours trying to fix this thing."

"You're not one to give up so fast, sir," Minion replied.

Megamind hesitated. "Yes, but, even if we do fix it…" He paused. "It's too dangerous."

"That's never stopped us before. I think this could be the machine that helps us defeat Metro Man."

"Any one of us could have been thrown off that building, and if that wave had been stronger it would have pushed Roxanne off." Megamind shifted his eyes downward. "It's too much of a risk. We barely even know how this thing works. We had to translate the instructions from Romanian!"

"That's what this is about? Miss Ritchi's safety?"

"Oh, never mind it," Megamind said, wheeling around in his chair. He stared at the tools sitting in the corner so he didn't have to look at Minion.

"Then we'll just have to be more careful, sir," he replied, hoping his words might reassure Megamind. "We won't use the wave discharger until we've tested it and we're absolutely sure it won't get out of control again."

"You're right, Minion!" he said, his spirits lifted. He rose from his chair and ran to the other side of the room. "And I have an idea what our next plan can be in the meantime." He headed for the doorway and told Minion not to move a muscle as he left the room to get some things. This plan would be simpler to execute and the only person might have to fear for their safety is Metro Man.

* * *

Roxanne Ritchi could handle many things; difficult coworkers, outrageous rent prices, and she could definitely handle rumors about herself. At her start in journalism she knew to stay away from rumors because when the moment came of her first day on camera, anything on that screen could spark a discussion. She tried to avoid them because the most important thing in her life right now was her career, and she wasn't going to let anything get in the way a dream she has had since she was a little girl. Rumors never lasted long anyway, and the ones about her were never true or even clever for that matter.

So why couldn't she get this one out of her head? Of course she wasn't dating Megamind. The very thought of it made her want to laugh, and she would laugh had she not been so frustrated. Why would she be dating the man who kidnaps her once a week? Sure, he had never hurt her physically or emotionally – barring the rope burn and the fear he'd caused her the first times she had been taken, but why in the world would people think that? Just a few days ago two giggling women came up and asked her if she was still dating Metro Man. 'Still' as in she had ever gone on a date with him in the first place. A woman goes to _one_ gala with Metro Man as friends years ago and suddenly the two of you are everybody's favorite celebrity couple. That was the one rumor that managed to persist for some reason, until now.

Roxanne decided she needed to push away the million thoughts swarming inside her brain and got dressed for the day. It was hard for her to fall asleep the night before because her phone had been buzzing with concerned texts and phone calls from friends, family, and acquaintances. Word traveled around faster than she thought, and much too quickly for her comfort. Last night she tried answering all of the calls and texts that came in, but after the hysterical phone call conversation with her mother she had to give herself a break and turned her phone off.

She powered her phone back on, skimming through more messages from coworkers, friends, and her mother... who called three more times. It was still too much right now. She would deal with these people later because she needed a clear head when she was at work.

Roxanne left her apartment and went to get her morning coffee from the shop down the street. Breathing in, she smelled the scent of freshly brewed coffee and her spirits were lifted. At least coffee was there for her. As Roxanne waited in line to place her order, however, she noticed a man seated with his laptop was staring at her for an unusual amount of time.

It's probably nothing, she thought to herself. Roxanne ignored him and looked at other things around the room. Then she saw a woman with her daughter, and the woman was giving her a scowl. The mother looked unimpressed, or disgusted, or something… Roxanne couldn't tell, but she did know that she didn't like it.

When her order was ready, she took her drink from the barista and left the shop a little hurriedly to get away from the stares of those strangers. At the sidewalk she hailed a taxi to take her to the news studio. She usually had enough time to sit and drink her coffee inside, but not this morning if she was going to be stared at while doing it.

The taxi driver dropped her off and Roxanne entered her work building. Her mood lifted a bit; at least here at work she'd be doing the thing she loves most, and it would take her mind off things.

"Hi, Ray," Roxanne said as she approached a man at a desk. He was her boss's assistant. He had dark hair and a Bluetooth that always seemed to be in his ear.

"R – Roxanne?" He asked. There was a stunned look on his face. "Didn't you get the - ?" His eyes shifted back and forth between her and his computer screen. He began to click around for something.

"Get the what?" Roxanne furrowed her eyebrows.

"The email. From Mr. Helm?"

"Email? I'm sorry, I haven't really checked my phone since last night because of, um…"

Ray continued her train of thought. "The story?"

Roxanne sighed. "You heard about that too?"

He lowered his voice, leaning in closer. "Roxanne, everyone knows." Ray paused for a moment. "It's not true, right?"

"Of course it isn't!" She set down her coffee cup onto his desk a little too harshly. Light brown droplets erupted from to lid of her drink. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. I got coffee all over your desk."

"It's fine, I got it." He pulled open a drawer, took out some napkins and wiped his desk clean.

A voice boomed from her boss's office. "Roxanne, what are you doing here?"

Roxanne looked up to see her boss with his arms crossed. He was a man on the bulkier side, tall, and he was wearing suspenders.

"I work here?" she retorted, not even attempting to mask the sarcasm.

"You have the day off today."

"I… What?" Roxanne blinked.

"Ray, didn't I tell you to send that email?" Mr. Helm asked his assistant, irritated.

"Yes, sir, I did. She didn't read it."

Mr. Helm walked up to Roxanne and placed his arms on her shoulders. "Go home, Roxy. Enjoy your day off."

Roxanne stepped back. "I don't understand. Did I do something wrong?"

Her boss sighed. "The story that that tabloid show ran about you last night? We've gotten a lot of angry phone calls and emails about it. I think it's in your and our best interest for you not to appear on television this morning." He paused. "…Possibly for the rest of the week."

"The rest of the week?" Roxanne shouted loud enough for a few coworkers to turn their heads.

"Calm down, calm down. You'll still get paid this week. Don't worry about that."

"I can't come into work this week because of a stupid rumor about me that's not even true?" Her face began to feel hot. She wasn't a naturally angry person, but this whole thing was becoming ridiculous. She couldn't even work now?

"I'm asking you nicely, Roxanne. Please leave."

She held up her hand, saying: "I'm going, I'm going," and headed for the main entrance. "I'll see you next week, I guess."

Roxanne exited the building and hailed a taxi to bring her home. She hadn't felt humiliated like this in a long time. None of this was her fault and yet she felt like she was being put on trial. When she arrived at her apartment she spent the next hour responding to all of the texts she had received since last night. In her frustration she decided she was going to set everyone straight, even if it did take her another hour to calm her mother down… again.


End file.
